Thursday, December 29, 2011

On my list of new things to try this year was to borrow an ebook from my local library. I have a Sony Reader and that is one of the reading devices that works with my library. So tonight I sat down to go through the process of finding a book to borrow and then downloading it and then transferring it to my Sony Reader. I just have to say… the process was very painful. :(

First I visited San Diego library’s eCollection page. I browsed around a lot for Adobe EPUB books, since that is the format that’s compatible with my Sony Reader. Every single book that I clicked on had “0” quantity available. After browsing for books for what seemed like 30 minutes, and not finding any books I liked available, I finally went to the “advanced search” on the right and searched for available EPUB books. Guess what, my entire library’s digital collection only had 56 EPUB books available for checkout right now. All the books were checked out! This was really, really frustrating to me, because one of the great thing about ebook borrowing in my mind is availability versus physical books at the library, and the selection was MORE THAN POOR at the San Diego Library’s eCollection. I finally gave up and just picked a random book just so I could go through the process of borrowing an ebook from my library. I picked “Murder Room” by Michael Capuzzo. Never heard of it.

The process of checking out was fairly easy compared to finding a book. I clicked on check out, chose to borrow the book for 21 days, then it asks for my library card number and my PIN. Once I provided that, the eBook was available for download. I should mention that you have to download and install Adobe Digital Editions in order to use my library’s ebook borrowing service, but I had done this previously already.

Once I downloaded the book, it showed up in my Adobe Digital Editions software under the “Borrowed” folder. Then I wondered how I could transfer the book to my Sony Reader. I googled around and it said to drag the book to the device icon on the left hand side. I didn’t see my device icon. Then the lightbulb of brilliance went off. DOH! I hadn’t connected my device to my computer yet! So I plugged my Sony Reader into my computer’s USB port and bing!, my Sony Reader showed up in the Adobe Digital Editions software.

So I just dragged the book to “PRS-300” on the left and now the book is on my Sony Reader for me to read for the next 21 days.

The process of borrowing was not technically difficult, but I’m very disappointed in my library’s ebook availability. I would much rather pay and buy books that I want to read than being on a huge long waiting list at the library. I thought the wait list was bad for popular physical books… some of the popular ebooks had over 40 people on the waiting list! Each person borrows the book for 21 days, so you do the math. That’s a staggering 2.3 years before I get my hands on that ebook. RIDICULOUS!

I’m glad I tried the process out though. At least now I know how it works and that my library has almost no ebooks available. Nothing I would want to read anyways.

This wraps up my 52nd and final NEW adventure this year! Thanks so much for joining in and following along. I’m really proud to finish this project and I’ve had so much fun doing it. I really feel accomplished when I persevere and complete a year-long project like this, similar to when I completed Project 365 in 2009. I will be doing a wrap-up post in the next few days that summarizes and links to all 52 of my posts this year. :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- About This Project New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities. Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the comments of this post.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

We got up and decided to eat breakfast in our room instead of our original plan of eating at the famed Wailana Coffee House. We just didn’t feel up for a big breakfast. So we had papaya, clementines, and I ate my pineapple cheese pie from Ted's Bakery. Todd had popcorn.

By the time we finished and sat around, it was 11am. We were going to go running around Kapiolani Park, but decided against it when we decided to hike the Makapuu Point Trail to the lighthouse instead of going to Lanikai Beach. We drove to Diamond Head Market & Grill for takeout lunch.
I got a Teriyaki Burger.
Todd got a Teriyaki Beef Sandwich.
We shared some fries and a diet Coke. We drove back to Kapiolani Park and found parking and a picnic bench under a Monkeypod tree.

The food was pretty good, but not great. We enjoyed our picnic lunch, even though we were surrounded by pigeons!

After lunch, we drove past Diamond Head, past Hanauma Bay, and stopped at several scenic points to look at the awesome ocean and take photos.

We also stopped at Koko Marina Center (where Kona Brewing Co is) to look for a restroom.
There was a Bubbies Ice Cream there and we couldn't help but stop for a mochi ice cream each. I got Azuki bean ice cream and Todd got strawberry chocolate.

Then we drove on. We got to the parking lot at Makapuu fairly soon after that.
There was a map of the trail, along with some facts.
The start of the trail.
There were several points along the way where the view was breath-taking. We stopped to take photos many times.
View to the right of the trail.
At times the trail had a pretty steep grade.
Awesome views from a lookout point.

The view when we turned back towards the parking lot!
The sky and ocean really were that blue!
A view point for humpback whales, but we didn’t see any.
We made it to the lighthouse!
However, there still was some ways to go to get to the highest point of the trail.
We finally made it up to the summit lookout point about 45 minutes after we began. The hike was so worth it! The panoramic views were spectacular. We were slightly tired and sweaty when we made it up there, but the payoff was worth it! The views were stunning.

We asked a couple to take our photo, and we took theirs for them.
The lighthouse from the view point.
Zoomed up view of the road below.
After looking around at the summit for a while, we headed down the trail for the return hike to the parking lot.

The hike back down took only about 25 minutes.

We drove back to the hotel to rest a little bit after that. Then we took a walk to the Halekulani Hotel so we could have their famous coconut cake at the House Without A Key restaurant.

The hotel was right on Waikiki Beach with a view of Diamond Head.
The coconut cake was awesome! We had Japanese green tea with it.
After the cake, we took a walk along Waikiki Beach and took some photos.
It was nearing sunset and the lighting was golden and gorgeous.

We stopped in at Hilton Hawaiian Village (where we stayed in Dec 2000 when I ran the Honolulu Marathon) to look at their beautiful gardens.
And their koi fish pond.

Then we walked back to our condo. I was tired of walking by then and my legs were tired! We called our takeout dinner order into Gina's Bar BQ and went to pick it up.
It was such a great choice by Todd because it was delicious! We had BBQ beef, BBQ chicken, watercress greens, seaweed with radish, kim chee, and daego.

Yum! The servings were huge so we didn't finish.

After dinner, we took showers and packed and watched TV. It was a great day, but it was our last full day on Oahu!